Chapter Text
Sam cringes when Dean sighs, loudly, as they wait for their supervisor to call them into his office. What had started out as a little prank war had somehow evolved into a station-wide fight that somehow also included the police in the building over, dogs, shaving cream, and an entire bathroom filled with bread.
So it had escalated a little bit. And he and Dean had started it, so they’re the ones in trouble, even though they’d had nothing to do with covering the dogs with shaving cream and letting them loose in the police station or buying all those loaves of bread and clogging the ladies’ toilets and sinks with them.
“Winchesters?” Bobby, their grumpy old supervisor, calls, sticking his head out of his office. He doesn’t sound like he’s in a good mood, but then again, he never sounds like he’s in a good mood. And he usually has a soft spot for him and Dean, seeing as how their dad had worked at the station too and Bobby’d practically adopted them after John started taking crazy long trips.
At least Rufus isn’t supervising today. They would have their asses handed to them on silver platters.
“Come on, Bobby, you know this isn’t our fault!” Dean says the moment the door shuts behind him.
“You started the pranks, and company policy—”
“Technically, Sam was the one who did the first prank,” Dean interrupts.
“Hey!”
“Don’t interrupt me, boy,” Bobby growls and Dean rolls his eyes. Sam shoves him with his shoulder and Dean retaliates.
Before the brothers end up wrestling on the floor (which happens more than Bobby, who claims responsibility for raising them, would like to admit) Bobby orders them to sit down.
Sam sits immediately, but Dean makes a production out of it as usual, as he always does. “It wasn’t even us who did the whole bread thing, that was Gabe the Crime Scene Investigator next door!”
“And ‘Detective’ Cas,” Sam adds. “Dean just doesn’t want to get his boyfriend in trouble. And guess how they got in in the first place?” He tilts his head to Dean and looks at Bobby, who rolls his eyes, but he can’t help but chuckle when Sam sticks his tongue in his cheek.
Dean blushes and ignores his little brother. He hadn’t even known Cas could be that devious. It had been a good move, though.
“I still don’t know how Gabe persuaded him to do that,” Sam adds thoughtfully. He yelps when Dean smacks his shoulder.
“You two have proven you can’t handle working together, so I’m separating you for the next two weeks.”
Sam frowns. He and Dean work in the same department and live together. Pretty much the only time they’re not together is when Dean’s on a date with Cas.
“Sam, you get regular shift, Dean, you get night shift. Long hours.”
Dean sits bolt upright. “Bobby—”
“You’ll survive not seeing your boyfriend for two weeks, Dean,” their surrogate father responds. “Don’t argue with me, boy.”
“It’s not fair,” Dean whines. “Sam’ll still get to see his girlfriend.”
Bobby’s eyes widen as Sam blushes and kicks his brother.
“It’s Y/N,” Dean says, grinning wickedly at Bobby’s shocked expression and Sam’s red face. “She’s our cute neighbor in apartment 67. Man, I wish she could have been on the other side of 68.”
“Dean, shut up,” Sam hisses.
“Look at this!” Dean crows. “He can run into fires with no fear, but the second I even mention his little crush he blushes like a schoolgirl. She’s not much better, either. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t even talk to each other. They’re too shy.”
Sam pushes his brother out of the chair.
Bobby pushes them out of his office and leaves them to wrestle on the ground, much to the amusement of the passing Jo and Gordon, who’d just got back from actually helping a girl get her cat out of a tree.
Day three of no Dean, Sam thinks to himself while walking up the stairs to his apartment floor, bone tired from helping extinguish an electrical fire across town. It’s surprisingly peaceful without his brother, albeit boring. The most he’s ever seen his brother is that one time Dean was driving home and Sam was driving to the station and they waved at each other. Working 12-hour shifts can be exhausting. He can’t wait until the two weeks are over.
The thing that annoys Sam, though, is that Dean was right—without him pushing the two of you to talk to each other and him, the most you ever do is smile at Sam and mumble a quick hello if you ever catch each other in the halls. Sam isn’t sure if you’re just that shy or avoiding him. Knowing his track record with girls, probably both.
Cas is sitting at the kitchen table when Sam gets back. “Hello, Sam,” he says without turning around. Neither of the brothers know how he does it.
“Hey, Cas. What’re you doing here?” Sam replies, smothering a yawn with his hand.
“Dean hasn’t spoken to me in three days,” Cas says in that deep, slow Cas way of his. “Do you know if he is mad at me?”
It takes Sam’s head a few moments to catch up. “Oh! Oh, I thought Dean told Gabe to tell you—he probably forgot—but, uh, me and Dean got in trouble at work for that whole prank thing so he’s been working the graveyard shift and I’ve been working the day shift—anyways, Jo hid his phone somewhere in the station as punishment for the whole bread thing because, well, she can’t do it to you so she’ll do it to your boyfriend, because she’d gotten her period and Gabe told her it was you that had taken all the tampons out of the dispenser thing—”
“What?” Cas whirls around, blue eyes wide. “That wasn’t me! That was definitely Gabriel!”
Sam shrugs. “I don’t know why Jo trusted him, but yeah. Dean says she’ll give it back in three days if he hasn’t found it yet, but he’s determined to find it before then. I guess he’s been too tired from working all night that he hasn’t been able to call you. He’s fine, though.”
“I apologize,” Cas immediately says, standing up. “You are exhausted as well. I will try to contact Dean and help him find his phone. He still doesn’t know about Fluffy’s new veterinarian. Hopefully today will be a slow day of work. Goodbye, Sam.”
“Why’d Fluffy need a new vet?” Sam asks, amused. Cas’ bunny, it seems, needs to go to a different vet every other month. Cas hasn’t been able to find one he likes.
“He was refusing food,” Cas replies. “Goodbye.”
“Say hi to Ash for me!” Sam calls, but the door’s already closed. Hopefully Cas heard him anyway.
A little disappointed he didn’t get to see you, Sam plugs in his phone and hops into the shower. He can’t wait to get in bed.
Sam wakes up fifteen minutes before his alarm is supposed to go off. Two people are running around inside his apartment.
“Heya, Sammy!” Gabriel practically shouts upon seeing that he’s awake.
“Sorry, Sam!” someone else yells and Sam shoots upright. He’s never heard you shout before.
A fluffy orange monster jumps onto his bed and right off it before bolting over to the small kitchen. Sam can only watch with an open mouth as it jumps onto the counter and into an empty shelf, conveniently just above how far you and Gabe can reach.
“God damnit,” you swear, and Sam realizes that he finds that pretty hot. “I’m so sorry, Sam. This is all Gabe’s fault, I swear.”
Gabe just laughs and pulls a lollipop out of his pocket. “Y/N, I am offended.”
“I hate you,” you say out loud, though it’s unclear if you’re talking to your cat or the trickster. As it is, the cat soothes its ruffled fur and squeaks at you. It has really big eyes.
“I can get him,” Sam offers and throws the sheets off. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you guys get in here?”
“Well, I had knocked on her door and had a bunch of catnip in my pockets,” Gabe explains as Sam hesitantly reaches for the cat in his shelf. Unlike the abomination that had jumped on his bed, this cat just rubs its head against his hand and starts to purr. “He came out and started running around in the hall. I picked your lock and got him in here.”
“And why did you want that to happen?” Sam asks while lifting the cat out of the shelf. He is very aware that you are standing right next to him and don’t even come up to his shoulders. Your smile when he hands your cat to you makes his stomach flip.
Gabe shrugs. “It was fun to see Y/N running around.”
“You’re paying double the next time you come in,” you inform him and hug your cat, who meows in protest and tries to get out of your arms immediately. “Thank you so much, Sam.”
“I’m your favorite customer, sweetheart!” Gabe calls to your hastily retreating back.
“Please, Cas is so much politer!” you call back.
Sam can’t help but feel a small bit of jealousy at how easily you talk and joke with Gabe but can’t even look at Sam.
“Wow, Deano really wasn’t lying,” Gabe says, tossing the lollipop stick into the trash can. “You’ve got it really bad.”
“How—how do you know about that?” Sam asks, already blushing as he glances at the door. You’d closed it behind you. Hopefully you can’t hear what they’re saying, though the only way that would happen is if you were eavesdropping directly the behind the door.
“Dean was telling my baby bro about it so I decided to see if it was true.” Gabe shrugs.
Sam’s mouth shrugs open. “So that was all… you did that all on purpose?”
The other man winks. “You’re gonna be late for work, Sammy.”
Sam looks at the clock and curses when he sees he’s right. “Screw you, Gabriel!”
“You wish,” he replies. “See ya, Sammy!”
“And stop calling me ‘Sammy’!”
“That sounds…” Sam can’t help his grimace.
Cas just smiles at him. “Bobby already said he doesn’t mind. There haven’t been many fires for a few weeks, so there’s no need to worry. Please, Sam? I have the address for Fluffy’s vet, the office number, and the vet’s personal number just in case.” He hands Sam a piece of paper with that information on it, as well as Dean and Cas’ numbers (as if Sam needed any reminders) and some other random numbers Cas apparently thought Sam might need for his four-hour babysitting gig. Most of them are different pizza places’ numbers.
“Cas, what do you think is going to happen to Fluffy while you’re gone for four hours?” Sam asks, staring at the paper. “You leave him alone for longer while you’re working.”
“Luci watches him since he’s still on house arrest,” Cas answers, looking through his pockets. “I’ll have to figure out if someone would like to babysit him when his sentence is lifted. Can I have the paper back?”
Sam hands it back. “Couldn’t you just bring him to the station? There’s always officers there and everyone loves rabbits, right?”
Cas scribbles another number on the paper and hands it back to Sam. “That’s Luci’s number. And that is a good idea, Sam. I’ll have to ask Amara if that would be allowed.”
“What about Chuck?”
“Chuck’s on vacation right now.”
“Fine, go enjoy your romantic picnic at the station,” Sam finally agrees, even though there was no question that he would. “I still think putting up a picnic blanket in the vending machine room isn’t very romantic, but whatever.”
“I think visiting my boyfriend while he’s working because I haven’t seen him lately is very romantic,” Cas replies seriously.
“Huh. Well, you go, Casanova.” Sam wishes he could be as brave as Dean was when he’d finally asked Cas out. Look where it got them: they’ve been going steady for two years and the only fights they ever have are about throwing themselves in the line of fire while doing their jobs.
“My full name is Castiel, Sam. It is not Casanova.”
“Get out, Cas.”
“Goodbye, Sam.”
Sam turns to look at the deceptively cute-looking bunny Cas had left him with. Dean had gotten Cas Fluffy for, like, their third date or something and Cas had loved him ever since. He had brown eyes, grey fur, and one white ear.
This bunny costs Cas more than any other pet Sam has ever known just by having health problems and going to the vet because of ‘emergencies’ where most of the time he’s faking symptoms, and is a master escape artist. He bites everyone except Cas.
Sam and Dean hate him, which is one of the only things they can agree on.
It takes two hours for Fluffy’s first emergency to start. He’s choking and coughing a lot. “Goddamnit,” Sam mutters, pacing around his room while the demon bunny tries to kill himself. “Luci, pick up.” Sam calls three times and he doesn’t, so he finally has to look at the vet’s numbers that Cas gave him. When he calls the office, he’s told that the vet’s already gone home so, gathering up his pride, Sam dials the vet’s number to ask her to help save the life of a demon bunny trying to kill itself.
“Hello?”
Sam pauses and cocks his head. “Um, Y/N?”
“This is Y/N Y/L/N, yes,” you answer. “Who is—Sam?”
“Yeah.” Sam smiles (you’d remembered what he sounded like!) but the renewed sounds of choking behind him wipe it off his face. “Sorry, Cas Novak gave me your number because he said you were his bunny’s vet but—”
A series of knocks sound at the door. When Sam opens up, you’re standing there in your scrubs and carrying a bag with your phone to your ear.
“Um, hi,” you say. Sam hears it through the phone too.
“Hi,” he responds and stares at you.
“So, um, Fluffy?”
“Oh, yeah!” Sam steps back and rubs the back of his neck. “So I guess you are his vet after all.”
You laugh softly. “Yeah.”
To Sam’s awe, you reach inside Fluffy’s cage and pick him up without him even trying to get away, which might have something to do with how he’s choking, but it’s still impressive.
“You little bastard,” you mutter, crooking a finger and putting it in his mouth.
Sam laughs. “I never imagined you cursing so much.”
“I’m polite, Sam,” you reply without looking back at him. “I don’t do it in front of the owners, but I bet you won’t tell on me. And I don’t really curse at people I barely know.”
“You barely even look at people you don’t know,” Sam mutters to himself but he thinks you hear him; you stiffen a little bit.
“Can you hand me his water bottle?” you ask, your voice definitely a little sharper than it had been just seconds earlier. Sam scrambles for the weird upside-down dispenser thing he’d never really understood and places it in your hand. You tip a few drops of water into the rabbit’s mouth and rubs his throat. He stops choking, leaving the apartment so quiet Sam’s ears ring.
“Oh, you’re bad,” you coo, holding him up. “I don’t know if you were faking it or really choking, but you are bad. I’ll text it all to Cas, but I would take away his food for the time being and put the water back in. From now on I’d recommend smaller bits of food, because Fluffy can’t seem to handle anything big.”
“Thanks, Y/N.” Sam smiles big at you after you put Fluffy back in his cage and you immediately redden. “If he’d died when I was babysitting him, Cas would’ve killed me.”
You pick your bag up off the floor. “It’s really no problem. I like seeing Fluffy a few times each month. He’s sweet if you’re a girl, or Cas.”
“And me and my brother aren’t either of those things,” Sam realizes. “Which would be why he hates us.”
You nod and poke your fingers through the mesh of the demon bunny’s cage to scratch at his fur. “Well, knock on my door if you need anything else, all right?”
Sam nods and escorts you out of the apartment. In the doorway, you hesitate.
“Hey, why are you babysitting Cas’s bunny? I thought his brother Luci normally did that.”
“Well, Luci told Cas that he didn’t want to deal with the little demon tonight so Cas brought him to me since him and Dean are going on a ‘date’ in the vending machine room of the fire station.” Sam rolls his eyes.
You brighten visibly. “Your brother Dean is Dean Winchester? What a small world!”
“How—”
“Cas is pretty talkative,” you shrug. “And we got to know each other more every time he brings Fluffy in. Let’s just say I didn’t think someone could talk about green eyes so much.”
Sam makes a face.
After hearing that you’d already heard about him, Dean goes out of his way to talk to you so much that you feel comfortable enough to say hi to both brothers by the end of the week. Now Sam’s a bit jealous his brother got the graveyard shift, because he can say hi to Y/N whenever he’s going to work or coming home.
“I swear, Sammy, I’m gonna get you two together soon,” Dean says loudly as the brothers and Cas walk through the park. The station is closed today because of a holiday. If any fires start, they’ll all get alerts on their phones.
“Shut up,” Sam hisses, glancing around with paranoia as if people will be able to figure out what he’s talking about immediately. More importantly, he’s making sure you’re not around.
“No, I’m serious, you two are perfect for each other. She’s always carrying books when I see her, and once she was wearing a Harry Potter shirt!”
“I read Harry Potter,” Cas says, swinging his and Dean’s entwined hands like a pendulum. “I think Dean is a Gryffindor. Sam is a Ravenclaw. I think I am a Hufflepuff. Maybe—”
“Yeah, but you’re not obsessed with it like Sam is. He’d probably want Y/N to wear that shirt while they’re having sex, he’s that into Harry Potter.”
Cas squints.
“Look, I just think it’s a good series!” Sam exclaims. “And that’s nothing compared to the cowboy hats I found hidden underneath your bed, Dean. You can’t really talk.”
That shuts Dean up for a while, but the comparison must explain it all to Cas, because he gives an exaggerated nod.
As the trio strolls downtown, nearly everyone says hi to them. It’s that sort of town where everyone knows everyone, and everyone especially knows them.
In the supermarket’s parking lot, Jody and Bobby are talking while Jo and Ellen argue a few feet to the side. Sam sees them and nudges Dean with his shoulder, nodding in their direction with his chin.
“Jody, Bobby, Ellen, Jo!” the elder Winchester yells, waving frantically at them with the hand Cas isn’t holding.
All the adults’ faces brighten. Dean has that effect on people.
“It’s my three least favorite idjits,” Bobby grumbles when they’re in earshot, but he’s the first to hug Dean, Sam, and Cas, in that order.
“Hey, loser,” Jo says, breaking away from Ellen and punching Dean playfully in the arm.
“Hey yourself,” Dean replies to their almost-sister. “You and Mo—Ellen still arguing, then?”
“She still wants me to be a lawyer. I’m happy with my job. For now, at least. How you doing, Cas?” She switches her attention to her favorite out of all of them, though she’ll never admit it, and Sam and Dean shrug at each other.
Dean moves in to hug Ellen and then Jody as Sam and Bobby talk quietly. “My two favorite ladies!”
Ellen rolls her eyes. “Your sweet-talk won’t work on me, boy. Bobby was telling me all about your mischief at work. What do I always say?”
“‘Don’t get caught’,” Dean repeats her mantra, rolling his eyes. “Where’re the kids, Jody?”
“Claire and Owen wanted to hang out with their Aunt Donna. God knows they’ll have at least fifteen more toys and clothes by the time I get home,” Jody replies. “Hey, did you know Sean and I are thinking of getting one more?”
“Really?” Ellen turns to Jody. “That’s the first I’ve heard of this.”
“It turns out Claire has a friend named Alex whose grandma died when she was about six. We haven’t met her yet, but Sean already seems sold.”
Dean drifts away from the two moms, who don’t even seem to notice him leaving, and back to Cas, who takes his hand immediately.
“—but I bet there will be at least a minor one today, considering all the bonfires and grilling,” Sam’s saying to Bobby, who’s nodding. Jo shakes her head and crosses her arms.
“What are they talking about?” Dean whispers to Cas.
“Sam thinks we will get a text,” Cas whispers back. “Jo thinks we won’t.”
“Five bucks, Jo?” Dean offers.
“You’re on, Winchester,” Jo grins after checking her wallet. “You’ll have to put it on my tab, though. I’m not packing cash.”
Dean groans. “You’ve already got twenty on the tab! I’m never gonna get my money, am I?”
“You will!”
“I won’t!”
“You will!”
A familiar form exits the supermarket and heads in the opposite direction of the shouting siblings. Cas tugs away from Dean, who doesn’t notice as he’s now competing with Jo as to who can be louder. “Y/N?”
You turn around at the sound of your name and smile when you see Cas. “Cas! I should have known the shouting was Dean. What are you doing here?”
“I was walking with Dean and Sam when we saw Jo, Ellen, Bobby, and Jody,” Cas responds, following after you as you try to listen and walk to your car at the same time.
“Wow, you really do know everyone, don’t you?”
“Some people we know better than others,” Cas responds, which isn’t really an answer to the question you asked, but you’ll let it slide. Cas is like that. “We help people. And people get into trouble a lot.”
“Tell me about it,” you puff, struggling with unlocking your car and holding the grocery bags at the same time. When Cas takes the bags from you, you grin at him. “Thanks.”
“W-would you like to come meet them?” Cas offers hesitantly. “Our family really is quite nice.”
You look over at the group. Jody and Ellen are talking normally, Sam and Bobby look to be discussing something serious, and Dean has hoisted Jo up and is carrying her like a sack of flour. It must be a normal occurrence if all the adults are ignoring the two.
You check your watch and grimace. The time’s not a problem, but it is an excuse. You’d feel too much like an outsider if you went over, you know already, and what would you even talk about? “Sorry, Cas, I really am, but I’m on my break right now and I’ve got to get back. Everything’s just been so hectic lately what with the move and all—”
“You’re moving?”
You nod and take your bags back from him. “Yeah, hopefully. I want to be closer to my work so I won’t have to drive as much every day. Plus, Crookshanks would probably like a larger house and what with his recent escape, Mr. Azazel’s patience with us is pretty thin. I’m getting the paperwork finalized next week, and the actual move is in two weeks.”
“Won’t you miss Sam and Dean?”
You avoid his eyes as you shut the door on your now-full backseat. “Well, I guess, but really, we aren’t that close and if you ever really want to see me, you could find me. It’s not a large town, and you already know where I work. You could just bring Fluffy in,” you joke and open the driver’s door. “Hey, can you do me a favor?”
Cas nods.
“Could you tell anyone you know that has a dog about the clinic’s new training program, if it’s not too much to ask?” You smile. “I’ll be working there when I’m not needed but we need dogs to attend.”
“Are bunnies invited?”
You laugh, but Cas was serious. “Again, it would be great if you could, Cas, but no pressure. I’m hoping the people here have some cute dogs. I love dogs.”
“But you have a cat.”
You shrug. “In my space, it was all I could do. Besides, I’m so busy that a cat was the best option, but I’m hoping to get a puppy soon that can hang out at the training center while I’m working or maybe work as a volunteer at the hospital. I was talking to a woman named Hannah who works as a nurse about it a while ago.”
“Hannah is my sister. She told me about you.”
“Wow! It really is a small town, I guess.” You get in your car. “I’ll see you later, Cas. It was nice talking to you!”
You pull out before Sam gets to Cas. “Hey, was that Y/N?”
Cas nods. “Yes. She was on her break. She says she’s moving soon.”
Sam frowns and shuffles his feet. “R-really?” He huffs.
“Well, I wouldn’t lie about that,” Cas replies. “She says she wants to be closer to her work. You should get a dog.”
Sam cocks his head at the abrupt subject change. “What?”
“Well, Y/N says that her clinic is opening a training center for dogs and that she’ll be working in both the clinic and center. Since you want to see her so badly, you could get a dog and have her be the vet and trainer.”
“I—really? I mean, I don’t want her to—I don’t—”
“Sam, you are very bad at hiding your feelings. So is Y/N.”
“There are no—”
“Dean, your brother is in love!” Cas yells, then starts sprinting for his boyfriend. Dean stops pretending to drop Jo and sets her on her feet, sees Sam chasing Cas, and starts to sprint too.
“Idjits,” Bobby mutters.
“In love?” Jody yells.
“Cas, Dean, if you say a word I will kill you!” Sam bellows, gaining steadily on his brother and his brother’s boyfriend with his longer legs.
“With our hot neighbor—” is how far Dean gets before a burst of speed helps Sam take a flying leap at his brother. They fall into a bush and Cas takes the badge out of his pocket.
“This is Detective Novak, may I ask what is going on here?” he asks, to his own amusement. The brothers hardly hear him over their own fighting, but he doesn’t mind. Cas’ humor is strange and rarely amuses anyone but himself.
“Well, it’s about time,” Ellen mutters to Bobby. “Look at our boy, all grown up. He’s got his first crush—”
“And yet he’s still enough of an idjit to tackle his brother and wrestle with him in front of the supermarket,” Bobby grumbles back. “All right, you two! Stop! Save it for the bedroom!”
“Gross!” Everyone else complains (except Cas), but it gets Sam and Dean to stop.
“Hey, Dean?” Cas asks, squinting as he looks at his ruffled boyfriend.
“Yeah?”
“You and Sam should get a dog.”
Jo spends the rest of the next day gloating about how she only owes Dean fifteen dollars now, and that the number’s sure to drop until Dean starts owing her too.
Dean finds his phone. It was in one of the dispensers in the women’s room. Gabe had been the one who had hinted at ‘poetic justice’ and he’d put two and two together.